Concerns over new voting method: How it could impact Israel at Eurovision 2027
The Eurovision contest will be held in Asia for the first time this November. A new voting method, which may be adopted for the competition in Bulgaria next year, is raising concerns about potentially hindering Israel's chances of winning.
The Eurovision contest is coming to Asia for the first time, and the continent is gearing up for a massive event taking place this November in Thailand. Following the launch of a new website detailing the participating countries, the voting method—which has drawn significant attention from the Israeli public—was revealed, as reported by the EuroMix website.
According to the report, for the competition on November 14, viewers will be able to vote via the official app, regardless of their country of residence. To ensure votes are counted, users must distribute them among at least three different songs, making it impossible to concentrate all votes on a single contestant. Additionally, users will be able to purchase ten extra votes for a fee, which must also be distributed among at least three contestants.
This decision follows the major controversy surrounding the Israeli entry at Eurovision 2026. During the competition last May, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) demanded that the Israeli delegation remove a campaign promoting votes for Noam Batan after the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation distributed videos calling on the public to vote 10 times for Israel.
The new model resembles the voting system used in Junior Eurovision and follows discussions held at the EBU General Assembly last June regarding potential changes to the competition's voting mechanism. The stated goal is to reduce political voting, where audiences support countries for reasons unrelated to the song itself. Eurovision contest director Martin Green stated at the time:
"It was brought to our attention that videos were uploaded calling to vote 10 times for the Israeli song, distributed by the artist representing it. Within 20 minutes, we contacted the Israeli delegation and asked them to immediately take down the campaign and remove it from all platforms, and they acted immediately."
According to Green, the direct call to vote multiple times for one song violated the new rules of Eurovision 2026. At this stage, there is no official confirmation that this voting method will be adopted for the European Eurovision contest in 2027, which will be held in Bulgaria.
